Order Takers

I haven’t spoken publicly about this before, but I can’t keep it quiet any longer.

You’ve probably been doing well business-wise since Covid hit. For quite a while, there were no discounts, and used car prices skyrocketed.

Those were the happy days, but the market is changing, and for some, it already has.

The big issue? You’ve been relying on order-takers, not salespeople.

Your experienced staff haven’t been selling; they’ve been taking orders.

It’s the same story with your newer team members.

The newbies mistake taking orders for good salesmanship, but that’s far from the truth. They need to learn how to sell, because they actually don’t know how to.

A lot of people are saying the market’s going to look like, pre-COVID (2019.) At this stage, I agree with that.

I ask you to speak to your inexperienced people. Ask them how many ways they know to create urgency.

I’ll be extremely surprised if they know more than one.

‘There’s one left.’ This doesn’t even work anymore and your customers and clients are way too savvy for that.

Your sales team needs at least half a dozen strategies on how to create urgency.

And, this is just one small part of selling.

Another example I can give you…

In the last two weeks, we’ve onboarded two new clients facing these exact challenges.

I’m here to urge you not to ignore this problem, pretending everything will be fine. It won’t be, not unless your team gets the proper training.

Just last week, during a remote training session, two salespeople shared that their dealerships have been quiet.

They’ve been instructed to call service leads, and customers coming out of leases. Both salespeople told me “But my manager hasn’t told me what to say.”

When they asked, both their managers replied with – “Just call.”

This reveals a gap; sometimes, even managers don’t know what to do or say.

Fortunately, the salespeople had me provide them with effective word tracks for their calls. But think about it—if your team lacks confidence in their actions or words, they’re likely to avoid making those calls, or it’s not going to be successful.

So, this is my advice.

Get your team trained whether that’s with my company or elsewhere.

There’s a tremendous opportunity at the moment, and that includes your finance department. However, it requires collaboration between your business managers and sales staff.

This is critical, and more dealerships don’t do this well compared to those that do.

Without a well-trained sales and finance team, a lot of business is being left on the table for your competitors to take.

My message today is simple –  Don’t procrastinate on getting your team trained.

Take action, and you’ll be very glad you did.

If you need help with the fundamentals, simply reach out to us at support@automotivestars.com.au